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is only that which has this source . " He goes on , " There is a wide difference between the state of things now and in the times of Christ and his apostles . The favourableness of Christianiiy to virtue must , indeed , be a powerful recommendation of it to good minds ; and is almost enough , without the aid of miracles , to prove its heavenly original . For this reason , those who do the will of God are likely to know of the doctrine whether it be of God . Nothing : is much more incredible than that a religion so calculated to raise
our affections above this world , and to lead us to all that is holy and worthy , should be the offspring of such wickedness as that of its first preachers must have been if they were impostors . But , whatever effect considerations of this kind have upon me , I am far from thinking that it is necessary they should have the same effect upon others . The difficulties which all inquisitive and candid Christians must themselves feel , may undoubtedly appear to even good minds in so strong a light as to leave them unsatisfied . It would
be much better if Christians , instead of being so free as they often are in ascribing infidelity to the worst motives , would take care that their own faith is the result of honest inquiry , and at the same time study to demonstrate the excellence of their religion by the excellence of their tempers and lives . " With the spirit of these extracts my own heart , I must confess , is cordially
in unison ; and this is the spirit which I think I have expressed and inculcated in the sermon which has subjected me to such obloquy . However much , Sir , you may condemn my remark , that " I know of no universal criterion of human character but sincerity and moral rectitude , " I have yet to learn in what part of your writings you have satisfactorily established any substitute for that criterion .
You have condescended , Sir , to a little pleasantry on my observation , that honest and serious Deists should be objects of compassion and sympathy , rather than of hostility , with Christians , because i ( you are at a loss to know what are the opinions which , in embracing Christianity on Unitarian principles , such a Deist is conceived to adopt , beyond those which he previously held . " I may here avail myself of the very excellent observation of Dr . Paley { Evid . Part II . chap , ii . ) , that " the direct object of the design of 7
Christianity is to supply motives and not rules , sanctions and not precepts ;' and that what men want in this life is " a motive to their duty , at least strength of motive , sufficient to bear up against the force of passion and the temptation of present advantage . Their rules want authority . " Now , although we might admit that a serious Deist on becoming a Christian should not add much to the original articles of his creed , beyond the simple conviction that Jesus was a teacher sent from God , and that he rose again from the
dead , it must , I think , in common candour , be admitted , that by that conviction the strength of his motives , the power of his consolations , and the clearness and fixedness of his views , are very greatly increased , and that he is thereby placed in a state of higher moral advantage . I cannot question there have been men who , by the light of nature only , have had sufficient comprehension of mind to cherish an habitual belief in a providence and a
moral government and a future life , and to live in a virtuous conformity with that belief ; and yet I may believe , and do believe , in perfect consistency with that persuasion , that they would have been happier and better under the influence of those assistances and consolations which Christianity bestows ; that they would have been happier from having their minds set at rest from the ceaseless fluctuations and uncertainties of opinion , and better from humble submission to the inspired teachings and authority of Christ ,
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vn the Admission of Deists into Christian Congregation * . 301
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1829, page 301, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2572/page/5/
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